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Monday, May 28, 2018

Conquering Sin

Knowledge of Sin

“Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts” (Romans 6:12 NKJV).

Brethren, I (Brother Glenn) am reposting this article because of time constrains. We will be making some great articles available in the next coming weeks. Also, kindly subscribe to our email subscriptions by entering your email address. We have received two Visions please read it either by clicking on the link above and learn and be warned in Jesus name or please read it below!

Vision Of A Spiritually Battered Christian (25/03/2018)

I Brother Glenn had a vision during the early hours of above date regarding a servant of God (known to us) who fell into a terrible state of spiritual dormancy. In the vision, the Lord showed me that the brother (John, not real name) was covered in painful sores or boils like Job (Job 2:7) while he (brother John) was bleeding profusely from the mouth. Looking at the brother, I could sense that he had no strength left to stand on his own. In fact from my position, I could only see that some invisible hand was holding him up and the Lord revealed to me that it was because of his faith in the Lord that he was still standing. I then heard him pray to God saying, "God please forgive me for my many sins and help me get right again with you". I also heard him in his prayer addressing Satan being the cause of his fall (Luke 22:3-4) in fact the brother yielded to every kind of temptation without offering any resistance. Now, through this vision, the Lord is encouraging the Church to pray very hard for the ministers of the Gospel who are struggling under the weight of sinful desires

Vision Of Christ's Judgment Seat (27/05/2018)

Again, on the above date I (Brother Glenn) received another vision. It appeared as if we (ministers of the Gospel) were standing before the Judgment seat of Christ. This was a very real experience! The scene changed and in this vision, I found myself in a very big Church building with many members. I saw the Pastor preaching the Word of God, and every time he preaches a message to please the congregation it displeases the Lord because he draws attention to himself and the Word of God is being ignored. What he was building upon the foundation which is Christ (1 Corinthians 3:11) was with wood, hay or straw (1 Corinthians 3:12) and not with precious stones as expected.

While being in the same Church, I heard a Praise and worship song being sung by a praise and worship leader, as he sang from his heart to the Lord it pleased the Lord, I could tell by the joy I felt. But when he sung to please the crowd by changing the tone of his voice, it would pleased the crowd and though it sounded attractively beautiful it irritated me and I knew that it was displeasing to the Lord and this too will be considered as a measure of this praise and worship leader's ministry service to the body (1 Corinthians 14:26).

While standing there at the Lord's Judgment seat, I saw another brother approaching the throne and being Judged for his work in the ministry. I could tell from the brother's body language, he didn't want to be there in fact neither could he avoid not being there. There, it was revealed to him that his work in the ministry counted for nothing because he abandoned his work and calling. In other words, he went and hide his talent(s) in the ground and he will be considered worthless (Matthew 25:18-30). In the vision, I could feel the brother's hopelessness, shame and despair.

By concluding this vision message, let us not abandon our calling and ministry service in the Lord as we will not escape facing him on the DAY of reckoning.

How Sin Defiles Us

Back to our article, we are strongly encourage you brethren to please not disregard this message or any other messages we shared on this platform. As a ministry, we personally heard the Lord said that every message in His name results in blessings and spiritual progress for every Christian. Now briefly, this article is not a debate on whether humans are born with sin and how sin entered each of us. We also don’t need any special knowledge or an advance study to understand or identify sin. What is a sin then? Simply stated, it is all kinds of wrong doing against the will and commands of God. The Bible declares that all humans (without exception) are born sinners (Psalm 51:5; 1 John 1:10). Therefore, we only become aware what sin is when knowledge of a particular behavior is being revealed to us (Romans 7:7; John 16:8). In other words, as the Apostle Paul acknowledged, “For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died”(Romans 7:9 KJV). Now, here the Apostle is addressing born again Christians saying accountability resulting in consequences springs to live and two natures manifesting, the fallen nature or the nature of the new man (Galatians 5:17).

Often, we hear some Christians saying, ‘I am struggling to stop doing this or that’ and this is a clear indication of a conviction in the life of the person. The conviction is genuine, but the weakness is so strong that it forces us to give up all hope of ever overcoming the stronghold. This undoubtedly has led countless Christians operating on the ‘lukewarm mode.' In other words, they have faith, the conviction (by the Holy Spirit), but they enjoy the ‘pleasure’ of the other nature. We may say that a person is expressing a repentant attitude by acknowledging a weakness and that is true. However, is this sorrow leading us to repentance and abstinence from the wrongdoing (2 Corinthians 7:10; 1 Thessalonians 5:22).

How Bible Men Turned from Sin to Obedience

Let us consider King David, after receiving a prophetic word from the prophet Nathan for the sin of adultery that he committed, he humbled himself by acknowledging his sin, repented and obeyed the Lord never to repeat the mistake (2 Samuel 12:13). As we know, adultery is regarded as a very shameful act in society, but even this sin is forgiven and if a person has repented from it then he or she is set free from it (John 8:36).

Also, when King Manasseh sacrificed his sons and practiced sorcery, witchcraft, and divination, bowing down and worshipping idols provoking God, he suffered the consequences of his sin (2 Chronicles 33:3-13) but after repenting never to return to his old practices, God was moved with compassionate love, and he received forgiveness and his kingdom back.

Furthermore, we can mention the zeal of Zacchaeus for repentance when he declared that he was ready to make restitution for his past mistakes and returned what he owed people (Luke 19:8). Also, Job when he realized that he accused God of punishing him unjustly (although he was a very pious man, he was not considered sinless) repented and God forgave him (Job 42:6), and we know the Lord always rewards obedience with blessings (Blessings article). Additionally, when the Apostle Paul, after persecuting the Church acknowledged the error of his ways repented the Lord forgave him and his testimony as a reformed sinner led to the conviction, repentance and salvation of countless people then and now (Acts 9:11-18; Philippians 1:20-26). Therefore, by considering the circumstances of each person mentioned above, we see a common feature that they were all convicted, which led them to repentance and obedience.

Overcoming Sinful Cravings

Earlier, or above we mentioned that some Christians battle to shake off certain attitudes and cravings because the attractive force to the craving is simply too strong to resist. Resulting in them succumbing and fulfilling the need and only to emerge with the symptoms of the sin which are guilt, regret and no peace (Genesis 3:7-8). Let me add, from my experience in the ministry and working with people in ministry work, I observed that the pleasure-seeking Christian always walks around with guilt. They are weight down by anxiety because although they have the conviction, they do not exercise their faith to reconcile with the conviction leading to repentance. In this case, repentance means turning away from the sin and its pleasure. What I mean is this, fulfill the conviction which operates with faith by acting to avoid the fulfillment of the craving. Thus, this way you overcome and conquer sin.

Kindly allow me to encourage you further, if multiple and habitual sins are present in your life, you will often feel that you are powerless to resist the cravings. Don’t stress; God knows what you are experiencing, just continue to pray but resist the temptation to indulge. The urge to indulge will be so STRONG and mouth-watering that you may not see beyond the pleasure, but you still have the option to say NO!(Genesis 3:6). Some brethren wrote to us sounding hopelessly discouraged and saying that they don’t think God has forgiven them or even hear them pleading for mercy and that they will never make it to Heaven. That is not true, such thoughts are from Satan, God hears us when we pray for help (1 John 5:14), and it pleases Him when we acknowledge that we need His help against sin. If we persevere and be consistent in resisting the sinful craving we are secured victory against sin (Genesis 4:7). Being a saved sinner myself, I know the ingredients we need to receive personal deliverance and victory against sinful habits are faith, prayer, Bible reading, Christian fellowship, courage, consistency, and faithfulness. I can guarantee you that practicing this daily will be an occupation to perfection leaving no room for acts that corrupts our behavior (Ephesians 4:7). But if we allow sin into our lives, Satan will rob us of peace, blessings and ultimately Heaven. Satan has fallen (Luke 10:18)! Don’t fear him, conquer sin and you have him under your feet (Romans 16:20).

We would like to extend an invitation to anyone who does not know the Lord Jesus Christ yet, or of you are not born again, to pray our suggested prayer on this linkPrayer of Sincere Repentanceby faith and follow the Lord (Matthew 4:19). You may also contact usfor any questions or comments about this article or our ministry.